Rachel Watkins runs her family's dilapidated boardinghouse in Carlson, Minnesota, while raising her orphaned niece and working as a midwife. Her older sister, Alice, lost her husband, Mason, in WWI before he knew she was pregnant, then died the day Charlotte was born. That was also the day Rachel's mother retreated to her bedroom and stayed. Eight years later, Rachel is trying to save their home from a predatory banker, keep her drunken uncle in line, and fend off the advances of an odious boarder. Charlotte and her beloved dog find a desperately ill hobo. Rachel brings him to the house, and is stunned when she finds out who he is. This is classic Garlock: a dramatic story in which good triumphs over evil and everyone gets their just desserts.
